Why Is There No Labor Party in the United States?

Why is the United States the only advanced capitalist country with no labor party? This question is one of the great enduring puzzles of American political development, and it lies at the heart of a fundamental debate about the nature of American society. Tackling this debate head-on, Robin Archer puts forward a new explanation for why there is no American labor

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Overview

Why is the United States the only advanced capitalist country with no labor party? This question is one of the great enduring puzzles of American political development, and it lies at the heart of a fundamental debate about the nature of American society. Tackling this debate head-on, Robin Archer puts forward a new explanation for why there is no American labor partyan explanation that suggests that much of the conventional wisdom about "American exceptionalism" is untenable.

Conventional explanations rely on comparison with Europe. Archer challenges these explanations by comparing the United States with its most similar New World counterpartAustralia. This comparison is particularly revealing, not only because the United States and Australia share many fundamental historical, political, and social characteristics, but also because Australian unions established a labor party in the late nineteenth century, just when American unions, against a common backdrop of industrial defeat and depression, came closest to doing something similar.

Archer examines each of the factors that could help explain the American outcome, and his systematic comparison yields unexpected conclusions. He argues that prosperity, democracy, liberalism, and racial hostility often promoted the very changes they are said to have obstructed. And he shows that it was not these characteristics that left the United States without a labor party, but, rather, the powerful impact of repression, religion, and political sectarianism.

Chapter 5: Repression 112 Two Theses on Repression 112 The Extent of Repression 113 Soldiers and Police 121 The Effect of Repression in Australia 124 The Effect in the United States Compared 127 The Effect in Illinois Compared 133 Complexities and Qualifications 139 Conclusion 141

Chapter 6: Liberalism 143 Social Egalitarianism 145 Labor Leaders in Australia 147 Labor Leaders in the United States 152 Were Their Claims Plausible? 155 Individual Freedom 160 Labor Leaders in Australia 160 Labor Leaders in the United States 164 Were Their Claims Plausible? 168 Conclusion 175

Chapter 7: Religion 177 The Extent of Religious Involvement 178 The Nature of Religious Beliefs 179 Protestant Clergy 182 Catholic Clergy 184 The Response of Labor Leaders to Clerical Hostility 187 Religion and the Party System 188 The Late 1880s and the Early 1890s 193 The Effect in the United States 197 The Effect in Australia Compared 200 Conclusion 204